The Heart That Would Not Die

Thanks to the Killing Array, the Ghostmen were wiped out—every last one of them.
The news spread swiftly, and the whole nation erupted in celebration.

Empress Haiqing was overjoyed.
She issued royal rewards: all who had fought on the battlefield were to receive titles and silver, and she sent wagons of wine and meat through the night to reward the army.

Meanwhile, Qin An lay gravely ill on his bed.
The army was without a leader, yet no one worried—everyone basked in victory’s false light.
The Ghostmen were dead, they said.
There was nothing left to fear.

When I reached the front lines, the soldiers were already drunk beyond sense.
A few of them were rambling nonsense—filthy words, crude jokes.
They insulted my ancestors to the eighteenth generation.

I raised my hand to cast a spell and send them straight to Yama’s hall,
but at the last moment, I stopped myself.

I had killed too many.
No more, not tonight.

Instead, I scooped up two handfuls of mud and shoved it into their mouths.
That would do.

The battlefield before me was empty.
Just a barren field,
dry and cracked.
But this was the very place where the Ghostmen had gone mad and slaughtered one another.

Holding my breath, I took a step forward—
and suddenly felt the heat rise around me.
The ground beneath me steamed,
as if I were trapped in a boiling cauldron.
The deeper I went,
the hotter it grew.

I hastily cast a water spell, letting it bind around my body,
the cool mist easing the burning heat.

I looked around.
The sun blazed high,
its glare blinding,
and every shadow seemed to multiply.
A single tree had two silhouettes,
and my feet felt weightless, unreal.

Then—music.

The clear plucking of a qin drifted through the haze,
soft and pure, accompanied by a woman’s song.
It brushed against my ears like the gentlest breeze.

Sleep pulled at me.
My eyelids grew heavier…
until I sank into darkness.

When I woke,
I was lying on a soft bed.
Beside me sat Qin An,
eyes closed, breathing faintly.

His hair was unbound, his face ashen,
his once-proud figure reduced to a frail shadow.

What happened?
Hadn’t I fallen inside the Killing Array?
How did I end up here—in his tent, of all places?

I stirred, and his eyes opened.

Those dark eyes held no warmth,
only the cold stillness of a grave.

“Trying to run again?”

My heart clenched.
I stepped back, tense.

He reached for his black iron sword,
then brushed his hand against my forehead—cold fingers pressing lightly.

“I told you not to enter that array.
Bai Xi, you are mine now.
You belong nowhere but here—with me.”

His hand slid down to my throat,
fingers resting on the pulse that beat beneath the skin.

He leaned close, his breath ghosting against my lips.

“Even if you die,
you’ll die here—with me.”

His rough fingers moved lower,
finding the knots on my robe,
undoing them one by one.

I grabbed his wrist.

“Qin An! What are you doing?”

“Hmm?” His voice dropped, calm, cruel.
“That’s what I should be asking.
Bai Xi, what are you doing?
Last night, you weren’t like this.”

Last night?

My stomach twisted.
He’d mistaken me for—her.

I flipped him over, pinning him down,
a dagger pressed against his throat.

“Seems you’ve got the wrong woman, General.”

“Wrong?” He laughed, unafraid,
tightening his grip on my wrist.
“How could I mistake you?
Last night, you lay beneath me,
said you loved me,
that you’d bear my child.
And now, one day later—you’ve changed your mind?”

My blood ran cold.

I opened my mouth to retort—
but a wave of pressure crashed through me.
Fire roared in my chest.
The world spun—
and I was ripped out of my own body again.

Floating above,
I watched as she—Bai Xi—took control.

She sat upon the bed, leaned over Qin An, and whispered,

“Yes. I’ve thought it through.
Qin An, I love you.
I want to give you a child.”

Qin An wrapped his arms around her, trembling.

“Then promise me—
even in death, never leave me.”

“I promise,” she said softly.
“Even in death, I will never leave you.”

They embraced.
The sunlight outside poured through the curtains.
It was a scene of peace—of twisted, doomed peace.

Was it possible… she had forgiven him?

No.
Something was wrong.
I could feel nothing from her heart—no hatred, no joy, no warmth.
Only stillness.
The calm of a bottomless sea.

And then—
they kissed.

Qin An pressed her down on the bed.
Her smile was strange, too still, too composed.

He fumbled at her robe,
hands trembling, fevered.
She did not resist—
she even smiled, encouraging him.

And then—
with a sudden motion,
she rolled him beneath her.

Her hand slid across his chest—
and plunged straight through.

Rip!

A bloodied heart pulsed in her palm.

Bai Xi smiled, her eyes soft as silk.

“See, Qin An?
Now—even in death—we’ll always be together.”

“Ahh—!”

Qin An’s scream tore through the tent.
Blood spurted like a fountain,
drenching her face in red.

Guards rushed in, weapons drawn—
and froze.

There she was, Bai Xi,
cradling Qin An’s heart in her hands,
grinning like a child.

“Qin An, I’ll never leave you.”

The guards staggered back in horror.

“The demon woman!
She killed the general!”

Dozens more stormed in,
blades glinting, surrounding the tent.

“Witch! Hand over General Qin’s body!”

But Bai Xi didn’t move.
She lay beside him,
pressing the heart to her own chest, whispering,

“They said your heart would never belong to me.
But look—it’s right here, isn’t it?”

Qin An couldn’t answer.
His chest was a gaping hollow.
His blood pooled black beneath her.

Then—
an explosion ripped through the tent.
Someone had blasted a hole through the rear wall.

Smoke filled the air.
When it cleared—
Qin An’s body was gone.

“Qin An—!”

Her scream shook the earth.
I felt it too—her madness flooding through me.

I tried to return,
to reclaim control—
but her power flung me out again.

The guards charged.
No mercy this time.
Two red-tasseled spears pierced her shoulders.

“Ahhh—!”

Fight back, Bai Xi! Fight back!

But she only raised her head,
her eyes dull, lifeless.

“Kill the witch!”

Blades flashed.
Her robes split under their strikes.

Her bloodied face turned upward, dazed and smiling.

“Have you seen Qin An?” she whispered.
“I’ve been looking for him… for so many years.”

The lieutenant frowned.

“She’s mad. Kill her and be done with it.”

The blades came down.

A loud crack!—and the swords shattered.

Bai Xi staggered to her feet,
yanked the spears from her flesh,
and mumbled,

“Qin An… I have to find Qin An…”

Thunder split the sky.
Clouds rolled in, thick and black,
swallowing the sun.

The earth trembled.
A deep, resonant hum filled the air—
like a beast’s cry,
like a child wailing in the dark.

And that pain returned.
The same searing force that had torn me apart before.

I was pulled downward,
into her,
into the storm of her madness—

and when I opened my eyes again,
I realized—

This body…
was no longer the one I once knew.